The last Atlantis shuttle which docked with the ISS this week is due to return to Earth on July 21st . From then on, astronauts and cargoes will be delivered to the ISS by Russian Soyuz spaceships. NASA buys one seat on Soyuz for more than 50 million dollars, which is a strain on the US budget and is ruinous to America's great-power ambitions. For this reason, Washington is exploiting the idea of "space taxis" which are projected to hit the market by 2015.

In 2008, NASA signed an agreement with Space-X and Orbital Sciences for the supply of ships and rockets to deliver cargoes on the ISS. The $1.6 and $1.9 billion contracts provide for 12 and 8 cargo flights to the ISS. The project of Space X founder Elon Musk is particularly promising, Russia's space expert Igor Lisov says.

Musk's Dragon ship with the Falcon 9 rocket is currently designed as a cargo ship. It can take off, dock with the station, then separate from the station and orbit and make a landing. All stages, except for the docking, have been drilled.

Falcon 9 can carry 6 tons of cargo and could be modified to take 7 people. Its competitor, Cygnus, produced by Orbital Sciences, takes 2 tons and has never flown to space.

According to Igor Lisov, the possibility of the ships' redesign to transport people was not envisioned by any contracts and was not required by NASA.

Both projects are too "raw" to be considered reliable. Space X and Orbital Sciences have to prove their ships' 'spaceworthiness', particularly in light of the sad fate of the Challenger and Columbia shuttles.

NASA's other project - the CST-100 capsule for seven men - is being carried out in cooperation with the Boeing. However, this project exists only on paper.

In contrast, Russia's Rus' spacecraft has better chances. It is significantly larger than Soyuz and can orbit the Moon, if needed. The first Rus' is set to take off from the Vostochny space launch facility in 2018.

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